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Hey! Wait! Activision I’ve got a new complaint. What have you done to my teen idol Kurt Cobain. In the newly released Guitar Hero 5 you can unlock Nirvana singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain as a playable character. Sounds cool at first. Maybe the punker will smash his guitar or play a song that is not programed on the set list. However, what horrified fans about the avatar was when they found out the game makers allowed players to use Cobain not only on the Nirvana songs, but on any song on the set list. In the above video you can watch Cobain dance like a freakin’ hippy, preform karaoke to Nirvana-posers Bush, and rock out like Bon Jovi. Gasp! Where you really have to draw the line though is when Cobain poses like Flavor Flav and proclaims, “Yeeeaaahhh Boooyyyeee!” Flavor Flav might be the equivalent of hip hop cartoon character but Cobain never was, and he definitely never wanted his career to be remembered as such.

Though this is something we normally don’t blog about on the Star Clipper Blog, this travesty had particular relevance in my life and I felt it necessary to vent. Kurt and Nirvana was the first band that got me interested in music, and their career decisions and artistic integrity have been hugely influence on my life. To see one of my favorite artist be relegated to a dopey posturing video game clod is insulting to his fans and his legacy.

What’s really disheartening about the whole fiasco is that Kurt would have never allowed his image to be used this way. So who’s responsible? Well, the surviving members of Nirvana, Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic, have no control over the use of Cobain’s image but issued a statement to Guitar Hero creators Activision pleading with the company to re-lock the Cobain avatar. Courtney Love, Cobain’s widow and heir to his estate, also issued a statement via twitter stating “I did not approve Kurt’s avatar” and followed that with a treat to sue Activision. Yet, according to Activision CEO Dan Rosenweig not only did Activision acquire the rights for the Cobain character but the check for his likeness (issued to the Cobain estate i.e. Courtney Love) has been cashed. Though Courtney denies this, it wouldn’t be surprising to see her cash in on Cobain’s legacy again. This is the person who published her dead husband private journals and made them into a New York Times best seller.

Now that the Cobain avatar is out there what can you do? If you are just as distraught about this as I am, I suggest simply not playing Guitar Hero 5. I’ve been I fan of the video game since the first installment, but this is one thing I’m just not going to support. I never read the personal journals and I will never play the character in Guitar Hero 5.

All Apologies

-Jon

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